INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH CHAPTER 10

The judges were making laws that made victims by denying rights to the poor, orphans and widows. The prophet sees dooms day coming for them─God is going to use Assyria as his weapon to punish Israel then he is going to destroy Assyria for its sins. The prophet even tells the route and places where the invading army will camp─then with swift swinging axes God is chopping down Assyria. The full drama is told in the exposition.

EXPOSITION TO ISAIAH CHAPTER 10

1Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness which they have prescribed;

They were enacting unjust statutes and making laws that made victims.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT CORROBORATE THE TEXT:

Hab 2:12 Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and stablisheth a city by iniquity!

2To turn aside the needy from judgment, and to take away the right from the poor of my people, that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless!

They made laws that denied people of their right─justice had been hijacked─the poor couldn’t afford a lawyer,widows had their property and dignity taken away─no justice for the unfortunate─the disadvantaged had no advantage─the defenseless were exploited─orphans were oppressed.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT MAKE THE CASE:

Isa 29:21 That make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and turn aside the just for a thing of nought.

Mal 3:5 And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts. Read: Lam 3:35; Amo 5:11-12; Isa 1:23; Isa 5:7; Isa 3:14

3And what will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which shall come from far? to whom will ye flee for help? and where will ye leave your glory?

What will you do when God arrives for an inspection? What will you do when ruin comes? When God calls you into account what will you do? Who will you run to when disaster strikes? Where will you leave your wealth for safe keeping? Where will you leave your children─who will keep them safe? This was not going to be a friendly chit-chat visit. Remember that God has visitation rights.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT ILLUMINATE THE TEXT:

Isa 26:21 For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.

Hos 9:7 The days of visitation are come, the days of recompence are come; Israel shall know it: the prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is mad, for the multitude of thine iniquity, and the great hatred. Read: Luk 19:44;1Pe 2:12

4Without me they shall bow down under the prisoners, and they shall fall under the slain. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

They will find themselves under the heaps of slain prisoners on the battlefield and despite all this God is still angry with them. His hand is still threatening to strike again.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT INDORSE THE TEXT:

Lev 26:17 And I will set my face against you, and ye shall be slain before your enemies: they that hate you shall reign over you; and ye shall flee when none pursueth you.

Lev 26:36-37 And upon them that are left alive of you I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; and the sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them; and they shall flee, as fleeing from a sword; and they shall fall when none pursueth.

37 And they shall fall one upon another, as it were before a sword, when none pursueth: and ye shall have no power to stand before your enemies. Read: Jer 37:10

5O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation.

Assyria is the staff in God’s hand and he is using her armies as his military strength and weapon.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES THAT

LEND EVIDENCE TO THE TEXT:

Jer 51:20-24 Thou art my battle axe and weapons of war: for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms; And with thee will I break in pieces the horse and his rider; and with thee will I break in pieces the chariot and his rider; With thee also will I break in pieces man and woman; and with thee will I break in pieces old and young; and with thee will I break in pieces the young man and the maid; I will also break in pieces with thee the shepherd and his flock; and with thee will I break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of oxen; and with thee will I break in pieces captains and rulers. And I will render unto Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight, saith the LORD.

6I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.

This profane and irreligious and faithless nation was under the wrath of God and he had given charge to Syria to attack Israel and take their treasures─seize their wealth and loot their homes─plunder and trample them like dirt under their feet.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT ILLUSTRATE THE TEXT:

Isa 41:25 I have raised up one from the north, and he shall come: from the rising of the sun shall he call upon my name: and he shall come upon princes as upon morter, and as the potter treadeth clay. Read: Isa 45:1-2;Zec 10:5

7Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few.

Assyria had another agenda─Assyria had in mind to exterminate the people of nations that he captured.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT AUTHENTICATE THE TEXT:

Mic 4:11-12 Now also many nations are gathered against thee, that say, Let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion.

12 But they know not the thoughts of the LORD, neither understand they his counsel: for he shall gather them as the sheaves into the floor.

8For he saith, Are not my princes altogether kings?

The king of Assryia had in mind that he would make all his boys (princes) kings of the land that he had captured.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES THAT

ESTABLISH THE CERTAINTY OF THE TEXT:

Act 13:27-30 For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him. And though they found no cause of death in him, yet desired they Pilate that he should be slain. And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a sepulchre. But God raised him from the dead:

9Is not Calno as Carchemish? is not Hamath as Arpad? is not Samaria as Damascus?

Syria is boasting that Calno of Babylonia is like Carchemish on the Euphrates and that Hamath in Upper Syria is like Arpad and that Samaria is like Damascus. Not one of these cities had been able to stop Assyria’s war machine.

10As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols, and whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and of Samaria;

All of these kingdoms had fallen into the hands of Assyria and although they had idols and graven images he had finished them off and destroyed their idols.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES THAT

PRESENT OVERWHELMING PROOF OF THE TEXT:

2Ki 19:17-19 Of a truth, LORD, the kings of Assyria have destroyed the nations and their lands,And have cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them. Now therefore, O LORD our God, I beseech thee, save thou us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the LORD God, even thou only. Read: 2Ki 18:9-10

11Shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols?

Is there any reason why I shouldn’t give Jerusalem the same treatment?

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT ATTEST TO THE TEXT:

Isa 37:10-13 Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not thy God, in whom thou trustest, deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by destroying them utterly; and shalt thou be delivered? Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed, as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden which were in Telassar? Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arphad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?

12Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks.

When God finishes his work on mount Zion and Jerusalem then he is going to punish the arrogant vaunting haughty heart of the king of Assyria and his proud look and scornful eyes.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT ARE CONCLUSIVE AND FINAL:

Isa 14:24-27 The LORD of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand: That I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him under foot: then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders. This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth: and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations. For the LORD of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back? Read: Isa 31:8; Isa 37:36-38

13For he saith, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent: and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man:

The king of Assyria claimed that he had done it all by himself─by his own might and power. His boast was that he knew more than anyone─He claimed to have removed landmarks and took their hoarded wealth─defeated kings and brave soldiers.

14And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people: and as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped.

He had garnered the wealth of nations like going to the hen house and gathering eggs from the nest and no one was powerful enough or had enough nerve to flap a wing, open its beak in protest or utter a chirp.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT BEAR OUT THE TEXT:

Pro 18:12 Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before honour is humility.

Nah 3:1 Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery; the prey departeth not; Read: Hab 2:5-11

15Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? as if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were no wood.

This poor fool had bragged and boasted about the kings he had defeated. He was a highfaluting swagger with a claptrap that needed to be shut up. And God is about to take this vainglorious, self-praising, windy cook-a-hoop down a notch or two. He was a mere axe in the hand of the hewer (God) or to put it another way he was a rod in the hand of the shepherd (God).

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES THAT

SPEAK VOLUMES ABOUT THE TEXT:

Jer 51:20-23 Thou art my battle axe and weapons of war: for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms; And with thee will I break in pieces the horse and his rider; and with thee will I break in pieces the chariot and his rider; With thee also will I break in pieces man and woman; and with thee will I break in pieces old and young; and with thee will I break in pieces the young man and the maid; I will also break in pieces with thee the shepherd and his flock; and with thee will I break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of oxen; and with thee will I break in pieces captains and rulers. Read: Rom 9:20-21

16Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory he shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire.

God will take the hot air out of his baloon─he will send some kind of a debilitating disease among his solders and as for the king he is going to get burned. This guy has set himself up for a hard fall. Napoleon said: “Don’t interfere with your enemy while he is in the process of destroying himself.”

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT SHED LIGHT ON THE TEXT:

Isa 14:24-27 The LORD of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand: That I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him under foot: then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders. This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth: and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations. For the LORD of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back? Read: Isa 37:6-7; Isa 37:29; Isa 37:36; 2Ch 32:21

17And the light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame: and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day;

These Assyrian thorn bushes are going to get burned and the fire that burns them will be the Holy One and he will use Israel to light the flame. The prophet is expert at using puns and word-play.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT VERIFY THE TEXT:

Isa 66:15-16 For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many. Read: Isa 66:24; Num 11:1-3; Num 16:35

18And shall consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body: and they shall be as when a standard-bearer fainteth.

Some more word-play and puns as he describes Assyria as a forest and fruitful field consumed by fire and then uses the words soul and body to describe a disease ridden body wasting away like a man with a debilitating disease.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES THAT

GIVE COUNTEREVIDENCE TO THE TEXT:

Jer 21:14 But I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, saith the LORD: and I will kindle a fire in the forest thereof, and it shall devour all things round about it. Read: Eze 20:47-49

19And the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few, that a child may write them.

These trees of the forest (Assyrian solders) will be few─a school kid could count them on his fingers when God gets finished with them.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT CONFIRM THE TEXT:

Isa 37:36 Then the angel of the LORD went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.

20And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again stay upon him that smote them; but shall stay upon the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.

When the Assyrian solders meet their doom the residue that is left of Israel will not longer look to Assyria for help but will return to the Lord the Holy One of Israel.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT CONFIRM THE TEXT:

Isa 37:31-32 And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward: For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of mount Zion: the zeal of the LORD of hosts shall do this. Read: Rom 9:27-29; 2Ki 16:7

21The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God.

The remains of the left over remnant will come back to the mighty God.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES THAT

GIVE AUTHORITIVE DATA TO THE TEXT:

Isa 17:7-8 At that day shall a man look to his Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel.And he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands, neither shall respect that which his fingers have made, either the groves, or the images. Read: Isa 19:22; Isa 65:8-9; Hos 6:1

22For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return: the consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness.

God will finish what he started─although the people was as populous as sand of the sea, only a remnant remained. The ordered destruction will proceed as planned by the Lord and it will overflow like a mighty stream because it was a righteous decree.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES THAT

CARRY WEIGHT REGARDING THE TEXT:

Hos 1:10 Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God. Read: Rom 9:27; Rom 11:5-6; Isa 6:11; Rom 9:28

23For the Lord GOD of hosts shall make a consumption, even determined, in the midst of all the land.

God is going to empty the earth, and make it waste, and scatter her inhabitants.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT CORROBORATE THE TEXT:

Isa 14:26-27 This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth: and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations. For the LORD of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back? Read: Isa 24:1-3

24Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD of hosts, O my people that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian: he shall smite thee with a rod, and shall lift up his staff against thee, after the manner of Egypt.

The prophet tells the people of Zion not to be alarmed or lose heart by their terrorism. The Assyrians will treat you like former times in Egypt.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT MAKE THE CASE:

Isa 37:6 And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say unto your master, Thus saith the LORD, Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard, wherewith the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. Read: Isa 12:6; Isa 30:19; Isa 37:33-35

25For yet a very little while, and the indignation shall cease, and mine anger in their destruction.

In a little while I will turn my righteous anger against them and finish them off.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT ILLUMINATE THE TEXT:

Isa 14:24-25 The LORD of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand: That I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him under foot: then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders. Read: Isa 17:13-14; Isa 30:30-31; 2Ki 19:35

26And the LORD of hosts shall stir up a scourge for him according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb: and as his rod was upon the sea, so shall he lift it up after the manner of Egypt.

Assyria’s slavery will be lifted like the mighty workings of Gideon at the rock of Oreb or as Moses lifted up his rod on the Red Sea.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT INDORSE THE TEXT:

2Ki 19:35 And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the LORD went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword: and they escaped into the land of Armenia. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.

Jdg 7:25 And they took two princes of the Midianites, Oreb and Zeeb; and they slew Oreb upon the rock Oreb, and Zeeb they slew at the winepress of Zeeb, and pursued Midian, and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon on the other side Jordan.

27And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.

The load that they had been carrying would be taken away and the slave yoke from off their necks.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES THAT

LEND EVIDENCE TO THE TEXT:

Nah 1:9-13 What do ye imagine against the LORD? he will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time. For while they be folden together as thorns, and while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry. There is one come out of thee, that imagineth evil against the LORD, a wicked counsellor. Thus saith the LORD; Though they be quiet, and likewise many, yet thus shall they be cut down, when he shall pass through. Though I have afflicted thee, I will afflict thee no more. For now will I break his yoke from off thee, and will burst thy bonds in sunder. Read: Isa 14:25-26

28He is come to Aiath, he is passed to Migron; at Michmash he hath laid up his carriages:

The Assyrian army has arrived, according to their intelligence reports they have camped at Aiath, passing Migron and they are storing their baggage at Michmash. Aiath, or Ai, was situated a little east of Bethel about twelve miles north of Jerusalem; Michmash about three miles nearer, where there was a narrow pass between two sharp hills; Geba and Ramah are about three miles more to the south; Gibeah a mile and a half more southward; and Anathoth within three miles of Jerusalem.

29They are gone over the passage: they have taken up their lodging at Geba; Ramah is afraid; Gibeah of Saul is fled.

They were last seen at the pass or ravine and are now setting up camp. Ramah is terrified and trembles with fright and Saul’s home town is on the run.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT DEMONSTRATE THE TEXT:

Hos 5:8 Blow ye the cornet in Gibeah, and the trumpet in Ramah: cry aloud at Bethaven, after thee, O Benjamin.

Hos 9:9 They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of Gibeah: therefore he will remember their iniquity, he will visit their sins.

The inhabitants seize their belongings and children and head for the mountains or walled cities. They are paralyzed with fear. Anathoth is the home town of Jeremiah.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES THAT

SPEAK VOLUMES ABOUT THE TEXT:

Jer 32:8 So Hanameel mine uncle’s son came to me in the court of the prison according to the word of the LORD, and said unto me, Buy my field, I pray thee, that is in Anathoth, which is in the country of Benjamin: for the right of inheritance is thine, and the redemption is thine; buy it for thyself. Then I knew that this was the word of the LORD.

31Madmenah is removed; the inhabitants of Gebim gather themselves to flee.

Everyone is panic stricken─scurrying for safety─in a mad flight for protection. The crowd of people running for their life looked like a Walmart crowd on black Friday.

32As yet shall he remain at Nob that day: he shall shake his hand against the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.

While the army is camping at Nob he will send his top officers to Jerusalem to intimidate and frighten them into surrendering.

33Behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, shall lop the bough with terror: and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down, and the haughty shall be humbled.

Our God is going to get out his large loppers and lop the limbs and take his axe and chop down this forest of solders and he will humble this king and he will run back to Syria where his own son will assassinate him.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT ILLUSTRATE THE TEXT:

2Ki 19:21 This is the word that the LORD hath spoken concerning him; The virgin the daughter of Zion hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee. Read: 2Ki 19:22-35

34And he shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one.

God is going to cut down the thickets of underbrush and this Lebanon like forest of solders will be chopped down like a forest that is clear cut. As they high-tail it back to Assyria a child will be able to count the survivors. Halleluiah!

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT AUTHENTICATE THE TEXT:

Isa 37:24 By thy servants hast thou reproached the Lord, and hast said, By the multitude of my chariots am I come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon; and I will cut down the tall cedars thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof: and I will enter into the height of his border, and the forest of his Carmel.

Jer 22:7 And I will prepare destroyers against thee, every one with his weapons: and they shall cut down thy choice cedars, and cast them into the fire.

Jer 46:22-23 The voice thereof shall go like a serpent; for they shall march with an army, and come against her with axes, as hewers of wood.

23 They shall cut down her forest, saith the LORD, though it cannot be searched; because they are more than the grasshoppers, and are innumerable.